The present invention relates generally to devices for dressing wounds, injuries, and/or inserted intravenous (IV) catheters under sterile and/or field emergency conditions. More particularly, the invention relates to devices that can be quickly positioned on and secured to a body portion to protect and/or apply pressure to the wounds, injuries, or inserted IV catheters.
Presently, medical personnel generally utilize tape, cloth, plastic, or flexible adhesive means to fasten bandages and the like over wounds, injuries, and/or inserted IV catheters on patients. Such adhesive means require that strips of paper, cloth, or plastic adhesive tape or similar material (hereinafter generally referred to as "tape") be individually cut and trimmed to fasten the bandage or IV catheter directly to the skin of a patient. As may be recognized, such means are time-consuming in that a medical worker attending to the patient is required, for example, to unroll the tape, measure out appropriate lengths, cut the tape at the appropriate length, and affix the cut tape to the patient in a proper manner. If the bandage is particularly large or if several bandages are required, as may be the case in an emergency trauma situation involving multiple wounds, the time consumed may be life threatening.
Moreover, the traditional means of fastening a bandage to a wound, as outlined above, may require even more time, especially in situations where the bandage must be frequently changed, or if fluids or the condition of the skin of a patient prevent proper adhesion of the adhesive tape. Similarly, when a bandage is removed to check a wound, the adhesive material traditionally used tends to lose the ability to stick, resulting in a need for an entirely new bandage or at least new tape.
With respect to inserted IV catheters, medical personnel generally affix one or more lengths of adhesive tape to hold the catheter in place and prevent foreign contaminants from contacting the entry point on the skin of the patient. However, and again, the tape may have to be re-applied should fluids or the condition of the skin of the patient prevent proper adhesion. Moreover, the removal of the tape may actually tear the skin from the patient, especially if the patient is older.
In situations such as mass disasters or military field conditions, or when faced with treating single patients with life threatening injuries under extreme time constraints, medical personnel have found the piecemeal traditional methods of dressing the injuries, wounds, and inserted IV catheters to be unacceptable.